A woman who stabbed her common-law husband in the stomach has been convicted of several charges.

In provincial court in St. John's today, Kathryn Saunders was found guilty of assault causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon and several counts of breaching court orders.

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 16.

The charges were laid as a result of an incident that happened March 31 at a house on Topsail Road, where Saunders and the man had lived.

Saunders had been on strict court orders to stay away from her common-law husband and the house after she was charged with an assault on him just weeks before.

However, on Easter Sunday, as the man was cooking turkey dinner with a male friend, Saunders walked in the house. Saunders, who had been staying with a female friend, was with a male friend and had a bottle of wine and wasn't wearing shoes. She had also been ordered by the court to abstain from alcohol.

She told the court during the trial that she went there to get her clothes and to tell him her male friend wanted to talk to him about another matter.

Upon seeing her, her common-law husband got upset and pushed her several times.

Saunders claimed he grabbed her hair, dragged her across the room and banged her head off the stove several times. At one point, the man had gone out to speak to Saunders' male friend, later admitting to the court he had been jealous.

During the confrontation with her, Saunders grabbed a bread knife off the counter and stabbed the man in the stomach.

She also threw a pot of hot water — which had been boiling on the stove — at him.

The man was able to get up and call 911. Saunders ran out of the house towards a store. Police found her shortly after on a nearby store parking lot with a bottle of wine.

She told officers the man deserved it because he beat her. She had told police and the court that she was being held against her will.

Her lawyer, Michelle Coady, argued it was self defence.

The couple has an extensive history of violence. Over a span of 15 months between last year and this year, police were called to the couple's house 26 times. It resulted in both being charged on several occasions with assault and uttering threats.

Judge Jim Walsh didn't believe Saunders' version of the story, pointing out that there were no photos or medical evidence of any injuries to Saunders to support her claim that the man repeatedly banged her head off the stove.

The man, on the other hand, needed surgery to repair the gash in his abdomen. He also suffered a slash on his face and burns to his arm and legs.

"The force (used by the man) did not call for the use of a knife at all," Walsh said.

The judge also said she had opportunities to leave the house — when the man went outside to speak to her male friend, for example — but didn't.

HBG

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Quick question - 03/31/2015

A Corner Brook woman was upset recently when she had her seal skin purse confiscated by customs officials when entering the United States — she was unaware of a U.S. ban on seal product entering that country. Are you aware of the ban?